Образовательно-интеллектуальная девестернизация в Африке: отказ от
колониальных, элитарных, расистских и богохульных европейских концепций
«Университет» и «Академия»
In a previous article published
under the title "Beyond Afrocentrism: Prerequisites for Somalia to lead
African de-colonization and de-Westernization", I expanded on the
diverse misconceptions, oversights, errors and problems that existed in the
early discourses of the African Afrocentric intellectuals who wanted to
liberate Africa from the colonial yoke but did not assess correctly all the
levels of colonial penetration and impact, namely spiritual, religious,
intellectual, educational, academic, scientific, cultural, socio-behavioral, economic,
military and governmental. You can find the article's contents and links to it
at the end of the present, second part of the series.
What matters mostly is not the study and the publication of Assyrian cuneiform texts, but the reestablishment of the Ancient Mesopotamian conceptual approach to Medicine as a spiritual-material scientific discipline; "a large collection of texts from the Assyrian healer Kisir-Ashur's family library forms the basis for Assyriologist Troels Pank Arbøll's new book. In the book entitled Medicine in Ancient Assur - A Microhistorical Study of the Neo-Assyrian Healer Kiṣir-Aššur, Arbøll analyses the 73 texts that the healer, and later his apprentices, scratched into clay tablets around 658 BCE. These manuscripts provide an incredibly detailed picture of the elements, which constituted this specific Mesopotamian healer’s education and practice". https://humanities.ku.dk/news/2020/new-book-provides-rare-insights-into-a-mesopotamian-medical-practitioners-education-2700-years-ago/
Contents
Introduction
I. Centers of
education, science and wisdom from Mesopotamia and Egypt to Constantinople and
Baghdad: total absence of the Western concept of "university"
II. The Western
European concept of "university": inextricably linked to the
Crusades, colonialism and totalitarianism
III. De-colonization
for Africa: rejection of the colonial, elitist and racist concepts of
"university" and "academy"
Содержание
Введение
I. Центры
образования, науки и мудрости от Месопотамии и Египта до Константинополя и
Багдада: полное отсутствие западной концепции «университет»
II. Западноевропейская концепция «университет»: неразрывно связана с крестовыми
походами, колониализмом и тоталитаризмом
III. Деколонизация Африки: отказ от колониальных, элитарных и расистских
концепций «университет» и "академия"
Introduction
As I stated in my
previous article, the most erroneous aspects of the African Afrocentric
intellectuals' approach were the following:
a) their underestimation
of the extremely profound impact that the colonization has had on all
dimensions of life in Africa,
b) their failure to
identify the compact nature of the colonial system as first implemented in
Western Europe, then exported worldwide via multifaceted types of colonization,
and finally imposed locally by the criminal traitors and stooges of their
Western masters in a most tyrannical manner, and
c) their disregard of
the fact that the multilayered colonization project was carried out indeed by
the colonial countries in other continents (Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin
America, etc.) as well, being thus not only an African affair.
To the above, I
herewith add another, most crucial, element of the worldwide colonial regime
that the African Afrocentric intellectuals failed to identify:
- its indivisibility.
Ancient Egyptians at school: a model letter writing exercise. The teacher corrected spelling mistakes in red; ca. 1850 BCE, currently in Metropolitan Museum
In fact, you cannot
possibly think that it is possible to reject even one part of the evil system
(example: its Eurocentric pseudo-historical dogma, the promotion of incest and pedophilia,
the sophisticated diffusion of homosexuality or another part) while accepting
others, namely 'high technology', 'sustainable development', 'politics',
'democracy', 'economic stability', 'human rights', etc. Of course, this relates
to the element described in the aforementioned aspect b, but it is certainly very
important for all Africans not to make general dreams and not to harbor
delusions as regards the Western colonial system that they have to reject as
the most execrable and the most criminal occurrence that brought disaster to
the Black Continent (and to the rest of the world) for several centuries.
In the present article,
I will however stay close to the fundamental educational-academic-intellectual
aspects of colonization that African academics, intellectuals, mystics, wise
elders, erudite scholars, and spiritual masters have to take into account when
considering how to reject and ban from their educational and research centers the
colonially imposed pseudo-education and the associated historical forgeries,
such as Eurocentrism, Hellenism, Greco-Roman world, Judeo-Christian civilization,
etc. In part IV of my previous article, I explained why "Afrocentrism had
to encompass severe criticism and total rejection of the so-called Western
Civilization". Now, I will take this issue to the next stage.
Ancient Egyptian scribes
I. Centers
of education, science and wisdom from Mesopotamia and Egypt to Constantinople
and Baghdad: total absence of the Western concept of "university"
You cannot possibly
decolonize your land and de-Westernize your national education by tolerating
the existence of 'universities' on African soil or anywhere else across the
Earth. Certainly, this word is alien to all Africans, because it is part of the
vocabulary or the barbarian invaders (université, university, etc.), who
imposed it without revealing to the African students the racist connotation,
which is inherent to this word.
Actually, the central
measure taken and the principal practice performed by the inhuman Western
colonial masters was the materialization of the evil concept of 'university'
and the establishment of such unnecessary and heinous institutions in their
colonies. This totalitarian notion was devised first in Western Europe in
striking contrast to all the educational, academic, scientific systems that had
existed in the rest of the world.
Since times immemorial,
and noticeably in Mesopotamia and Egypt before the Flood (24th – 23rd c. BCE),
institutions were created to record, archive, study, comprehend, represent,
preserve and propagate the spiritual or material knowledge and wisdom in all of
their aspects. From the Sumerian, Akkadian and Assyrian-Babylonian Eduba (lit. 'the
house where the tablets are completed') and from the Ancient Egyptian Per-Ankh
(lit. 'the house of life') to the highest sacerdotal institutions accommodated
in the uniquely vast temples of Assyria, Babylonia and Egypt, an undividable method
of learning, exploring, assessing, and representing the spiritual and material
worlds (or universes) has been attested in numerous texts and documented in the
archaeological record.
From the scribal school at Nippur, Central Mesopotamia: a catalogue of Assyrian-Babylonian proverbs
Simple sign exercise of an apprentice: the first wedges
About Education,
Wisdom, and Scientific Research in Ancient Mesopotamia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduba
https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110741124-003/html
https://africame.factsanddetails.com/article/entry-92.html
https://www.academia.edu/3323238/Domesticizing_Babylonian_Scribal_Culture_in_Assyria_Transformation_by_Preservation
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/cambridge-history-of-science/science-and-ancient-mesopotamia/C48D6E70188ED938863F479B692D465B#
https://www.arch.cam.ac.uk/research/projects/archived-projects/geography-knowledge-assyria-and-babylonia
https://oracc.museum.upenn.edu/projectlist.html
Niek Veldhuis, On the
Curriculum of the Neo-Babylonian School
https://www.jstor.org/stable/3217754
Assyrian Imperial
Administration 680-627 BCE: A Comparison between Babylonia and the West under
Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal
https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2397&context=theses_hons
https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/ancient-healthcare-fit-king#:~:text=In%20Mesopotamia%2C%20medicine%20mostly%20involved,of%20healing%20potions%20or%20enemas.
Mesopotamian medicine
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17378276/
Medicine in Mesopotamia
https://uomustansiriyah.edu.iq/media/lectures/2/2_2018_11_16!07_25_05_PM.pdf
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/6429561_Mesopotamian_medicine
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-science/mesopotamian-mathematics/9A71B9240A02458691FCB1E0221FCA60
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babylonian_mathematics
Zaid Haba, Mathematics
in Ancient Mesopotamia - April 2021
https://iraqieconomists.net/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2021/04/Mathematics-in-Mesopotamia.pdf
https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/02/cuneiform-mathematics
Mesopotamian scribal schoolboy practicing syllables; from Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks: Highlights of the Yale Babylonian Collection, edited by Agnete W. Lassen, Eckart Frahm, and Klaus Wagensonner, distributed by Yale University Press for the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in April 2019
About Education,
Wisdom, and Scientific Research in Ancient Egypt:
https://www.virtualkemet.com/perankh/index.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pr_(hieroglyph)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankh
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-house-of-life%3B%3A-Per-ankh.-Magic-and-medical-in-Ghalioungui/85c6be3d595579c8e1c4be734bc4bdd632dc8ac5
https://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/education-ancient-egypt.html
https://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub404/item1929.html
https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/566/1/Education%2C%20Pharaonic%20Egypt.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_medicine
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_mathematics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_technology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egypt#Daily_life
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1026/clergy-priests--priestesses-in-ancient-egypt/
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336842816_Education_in_Ancient_Egypt_till_the_End_of_the_Graeco-Roman_Period_Some_Evidences_for_Quality/link/5e7dc8c9a6fdcc139c08ff27/download?_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIiwicGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19
https://www.scribd.com/document/587878437/5-Early-Egyptian-Education-Written-Report?irclickid=1yJRTExG8xyKUiyQKow1xTgjUkHSpaSCl1K8200&irpid=123201&sharedid=232498&irgwc=1
https://historielaerer.dk/education-in-ancient-egypt/
https://malaikamutere.com/2021/02/14/perankh-house-of-life-love-light/
There was no
utilitarian approach to learning, studying, exploring, comprehending,
representing and propagating knowledge and wisdom; in this regard, the human
effort had to fit the destination of Mankind, which was -for all civilized
nations- the epitome of all eschatological expectations: the ultimate reconstitution
of the original perfection of the First Man.
Learning, studying,
exploring, assessing or concluding on a topic, and representing it to others
were parts of every man's moral tasks and duties to maintain the Good in their
lives and to unveil the Wonders of the Creation. The only benefit to be
extracted from these activities was of moral and spiritual order – not
material. That is why the endless effort to learn, study, explore, assess,
conclude and represent had to be all-encompassing.
From the mortuary temple of Seti I at Abedju /Abydos - Self-begotten and Scribe for all other aspects of the Divine, Djhawty (Ḏḥwtj, known as Thoth to the Ancient Greeks) represented the aspect of divine Wisdom for the Ancient Egyptians; credited with the invention of writing (: the hieroglyphics), Thoth was often depicted as holding the Ankh symbol, being therefore the Life-giver and the Master of the sectors of Knowledge, material or transcendental. He thus epitomized the indissoluble link between education, religion and spirituality. About: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ḏḥwtj and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thoth
Neo-Sumerian map of field 21st c. BCE
The same approach,
attitude and mentality was attested among Cushites, Hittites, Aramaeans,
Iranians, Turanians, Indians, Chinese
and many other Asiatic and African nations. It continued so all the way down to
Judean, Manichaean, Mazdaean, Christian, and Islamic times as attested in
a) the Iranian schools,
centers of learning, research centers, and libraries of Gundishapur (located in
today's Khuzestan, SW Iran), Tesifun (Ctesiphon, also known as Mahoze in Syriac
Aramaic and as Al-Mada'in in Arabic; located in Central Mesopotamia), and Ras
al Ayn (the ancient Assyrian city Resh-ina, which is also known as Resh Aina in
Syriac Aramaic; located in North Mesopotamia);
b) the Aramaean
scientific centers and schools of Urhoy (today's Urfa in SE Turkey; which is
also known as Edessa of Osrhoene), Nasibina (today's Nusaybin in SE Turkey;
which is also known as Nisibis), Mahoze (also known as Seleucia-Ctesiphon), and
Antioch;
c) the Ptolemaic
Egyptian Library of Alexandria, the Coptic school of Alexandria, and the Deir
Aba Maqar (Monastery of Saint Macarius the Great) in Wadi el Natrun (west of
the Nile Delta);
d) the Imperial school
of the Magnaura (lit. 'the Great Hall') at Constantinople (known in Eastern
Roman as Πανδιδακτήριον τῆς Μαγναύρας, i.e. 'the all topics
teaching center of Magnaura');
e) the Aramaean
'Workshop of Eloquence', which is also known as the 'Rhetorical school of Gaza' (earlier representing the Gentile
tradition and later promoting Christian Monophysitism);
f) the Judean Rabbinic
and Talmudic schools and Houses of Learning (בי מדרשא/Be Midrash) that flourished in Syria-Palestine
(Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai) and in Mesopotamia (Nehardea, Pumbedita, Mahoze,
etc.); and
g) the Islamic schools
(madrasas), centers of learning, research centers, observatories, and libraries
of Baghdad (known as House of Wisdom - Bayt al Hikmah/بيت الحكمة), Harran (in North Mesopotamia, today's SE Turkey), al-Qarawiyyin
(جامعة القرويين; in Morocco), Kairouan (جامع القيروان الأكبر; in Tunisia), Sarouyeh (سارویه; near Isfahan in Iran), Maragheh (مراغه; in NW Iran), Samarqand (in Central Asia), and the numerous Nezamiyeh
(النظامیة) schools in Iran, Caucasus region, and
Central Asia, to name but a few.
About Iranian, Aramaean,
Judean, and Christian schools, centers of learning, research centers, and
libraries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundeshapur
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_of_Gondishapur
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ctesiphon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Mada%27in
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ras_al-Ayn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urfa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osroene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Edessa
http://www.nestorian.org/the_school_of_edessa.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusaybin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Nisibis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Seleucia-Ctesiphon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Antioch
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_of_Alexandria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monastery_of_Saint_Macarius_the_Great
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Constantinople
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnaura
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_school_of_Gaza
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmudic_academies_in_Syria_Palaestina
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houses_of_Hillel_and_Shammai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehardea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talmudic_academies_in_Babylonia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumbedita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumbedita_Academy
About Islamic schools
(madrasas), centers of learning, research centers, observatories, and
libraries:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Wisdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_al-Qarawiyyin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harran_University_(Middle_Ages)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Mosque_of_Kairouan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarouyeh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrasa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nezamiyeh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maragheh_observatory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulugh_Beg_Observatory
Also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_higher-learning_institutions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_university
All these centers of
learning did not develop the absurd distinction between the spiritual and
material worlds that characterizes the modern 'universities' which were
incepted in Western Europe. Irrespective of land, origin, language, tradition, culture
and state, all these temples, schools, madrasas, observatories, and libraries
included well-diversified scientific methods, cosmogonies, world perceptions,
approaches to life, interpretations of facts, and considerations of data.
Sexagesimal and decimal number
systems were accepted and used; lunar, solar and lunisolar calendars were
studied and evaluated; astronomy and astrology (very different from their
modern definition and meaning which is the result of the Western pseudo-scientific
trickery) were inseparable, whereas chemistry and alchemy constituted one
discipline. These true and human centers of knowledge and wisdom were void of
sectarianism and utilitarianism.
Viewed as moral tasks,
search, exploration and study, pretty much like learning and teaching
constituted inextricably religious endeavors. Furthermore, there was absolute
freedom of reflection, topic conceptualization, data contextualization, text interpretation,
and conclusion, because there were no diktats of theological or governmental
order.
In brief, throughout
World History, there were centers of learning, houses of knowledge, libraries,
centers of scientific exploration, all-inclusive schools, but no
'universities'.
--- ANCIENT CENTERS
OF LEARNING AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ---
Representation of gold tablet excavated at Persepolis with cuneiform inscription of Darius the Great (ca. 520-500 BCE); at the highest point on the Persepolis terrace a huge 'Audience Palace', the Apadana, was built to receive outstanding visitors. Its massive roof was supported by 72 stone columns; of them only fourteen still stand. Over each of the four corners rose a 4-story tall tower and in the foundation of each Darius had a stone box placed; each contained a 'foundation inscription' inscribed on gold and silver plates. Each plate was tri-lingual (in Babylonian, Elamite and Old Persian). Two of the stone boxes remained hidden and untouched for about 2500 years. After their discovery, one set of plates was stored at the palace of Reza, Shah of Iran and the other set went on display in a museum. After the revolution in 1978 removed the Shah, son of Reza Shah, and after the modern Islamic Republic was established, the second set was also displayed in a museum. For many years both sets of plates and their stone boxes were displayed in Iran’s National Museum in Tehran. However, they were still not immune from theft; several years ago, after one of the gold plates was stolen and melted down by an official, the rest was removed to the government’s National Treasury. About: https://latterdaysaintmag.com/the-gold-plates-of-king-darius/ and https://archive.org/details/persepolis_discovery_and_afterlife_of_a_world_wonder
Taq-e Kasra (طاق كسرى) or Ewane Khusrow (ایوان خسرو), known also as Arch of Ctesiphon (Tesifun; تیسفون) is today the greatest remaining structure from one of the two main capitals of Sassanid Empire (224-651 CE); in terms of knowledge, learning, science and research, it eclipsed Rome by far; The arched iwan hall (ca. 37 m high, 26 m across, and 50 m long) is the largest man-made, free standing vault constructed until modern times.
A small part of the site of the Sassanid Gundishapur imperial center of higher education, scientific research, library and archives has been excavated thus far; 14 km SE of Dezful
2nd c. CE Aramaean mosaic with representation related to the cult of Atargatis (also known as 'the Syrian goddess') and inscription from Urhoy/Edessa of Osrhoene/Urfa (Haleplibahçe Mozaik Museum)
King Abgar of Urhoy (Edessa of Osrhoene/Urfa) and the Image of Edessa (from St Catherine monastery in Sinai; 10th century)
Urfa/Urhoy/Edessa of Osrhoene: Balıklıgöl (Fish Lake; also known as Halil-Ür Rahman Lake) is a pool and a nearby mosque and madrasa, which -according to Islamic traditions- are thought to be the location where Nimrud threw Abraham into a fire, but he survived.
The archaeological site of the School of Nisibis in today's Nusaybin, SE Turkey
Mar Yaqub (St. Jacob) Church in Nusaybin; known as 'Moses of Mesopotamia', St. Jacob of Nasibina (Nisibis) lived in the 4th c. CE.
Monastery of St Macarius, Wadi El-Natroun
Wall painting of the martyrdom of saints, 6th c.; from a building at the Coptic town of Wadi Sarga, Egypt
Stucco wall painting of St. Cosmas and St. Damian; between them are the figures of Anthemos, Leontios and Euprepios; above a monochrome panel with Three Children in the Furnace and a Coptic inscription; 6th–7th c. from Wadi Sarga, Egypt
Reconstruction of the Magnaura palace or Senate at Constantinople (left); to the right is depicted the Chalke gate.
Büyük Saray Merdiven Kulesi: Grand Palace Staircase Tower; the remaining part of the Magnaura Palace
Cambridge University Library manuscript T-S F9.41 recto (above) and verso (below): a commentary to Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Bava Meṣiʿa
Representation of Rabbi Ashi teaching at the Sura Academy
Above: drawing of self-trimming lamp in Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Shakir's treatise on mechanical devices; below: a page from al-Khwarizmi's Kitab al-Jabr
Qarawiyyin mosque, Morocco
The Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Great Mosque of Sidi-Uqba), Tunisia
Rock carved with al-Aqida al-Murshida (العقيدة المرشدة; the Guiding Creed) by Ibn Tumart (approved by Sheikh Fakhr al-Din Ibn Asakir, 12th-13th c.); it is located in the garden dedicated to Sheikh Ibn Asakir in Al-Salah Islamic High School in Baalbek, Lebanon. Ibn Tumart (1080-1130), founder of the Berber Almohad dynasty (1121–1269) in NW Africa and Spain, had attended the Nizamiyya school of Baghdad and studied under Al-Kiya al-Harrasi (1058-1110). Al Ghazali (1058-1111) was also appointed (in 1091) as professor in the same school by the founder Nizam al-Mulk (نظامالملک; 1018-1092; his real names being Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi), the Iranian adviser and vizier of Alp Arslan (second sultan of the Seljuk Empire; 1029-1072; reign after 1063) and his successor, Malik Shah I (1055-1092).
Mustansiriya Madrasah
Miniature from manuscript of the Tevārīh-i Güzide Nusret Nāme (British Library Or. 3222, f.105), depicting the great Iranian scholar and astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-1274; نصیر الدین طوسی) and colleagues working on the Zij-i Ilkhani (زیجِ ایلخانی) astronomical catalogue at the observatory of Maragheh (NW Iran) where he transferred a considerable part of valuable manuscripts from Baghdad after he accompanied the Great Mongol Emperor Hulagu (grandson of Genghis Khan; 1217-1265) in his expedition against and destruction of the capital of the Islamic Caliphate (1258).
Ulugh Beg Observatory, Samarqand; Ulugh Beg (1394-1449; reign from 1447), scholar, astronomer, emperor of the Timurid state, and grandson Tamerlane (Timur), one of the World History's most erudite rulers
Ulugh Beg and his harem; manuscript of the Freer Gallery of Art
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
II.
The Western European concept of "university": inextricably linked to the
Crusades, colonialism and totalitarianism
Western European and
North American historians attempt to expand the use of the term 'university'
and cover earlier periods; this fact may have already been attested in some of
the links that I included in the previous unit. However, this attempt is
entirely false and absolutely propagandistic.
The malefic character
of the Western European universities is not revealed only in the deliberate,
absurd and fallacious separation of the spiritual sciences from the material
sciences and in the subsequently enforced elimination of the spiritual universe
from every attempt of exploration undertaken within the material universe. Yet,
the inseparability of the two universes was the predominant concept and the
guiding principle for all ancient, Judean, Christian, Manichaean, Mazdaean, and
Islamic schools of learning.
One has to admit that
there appears to be an exception in this rule, which applies to Western
universities as regards the distinction between the spiritual and the material
research; this situation is attested only in the study of Christian theology in
Western European universities. However, this sector is also deprived of every
dimension of spiritual exercise, practice and research, as it involves a purely
rationalist and nominalist approach, which would be denounced as entirely
absurd, devious and heretic by all the Fathers of the Christian Church. As a
matter of fact, rationalism, nominalism and materialism are forms of faithlessness.
All the same, the most repugnant
trait of the Western European universities is their totalitarian and inhuman nature.
In spite of tons of literature written about the so-called 'academic freedom', the
word itself, its composition and etymology, fully demonstrate that there is not
and there cannot be any freedom in the Western centers of pseudo-learning,
which are called 'universities'. The Latin word 'universitas' did not exist at
the times of the Roman Republic, the Roman Empire, and the Western Roman
Empire. The nonsensical term was not created in the Eastern Roman Empire where
the imperial center of education, learning, and scientific research was wisely named
'Pandidakterion', i.e. 'the all topics teaching center'.
The first 'universitas'
was incepted long after the anti-Constantinopolitan heretics of Rome managed to
get rid of the obligation to accept as pope of Rome the person designated by
the Emperor at Constantinople, which was a practice of vital importance which
lasted from 537 until 752 CE.
The first 'universitas'
was incepted long after the beginning of the systematic opposition that the
devious, pseudo-Christian priesthood of Rome launched against the Eastern Roman
Empire, by fallaciously attributing the title of Roman Emperor to the
incestuous barbarian thug Charlemagne (800 CE).
Last, the first
'universitas' was incepted long after the first (Photian) schism (867 CE) and,
quite interestingly, several decades after the Great Schism (1054 CE) between
the Eastern Roman Empire and the deviate and evil Roman papacy.
In fact, the University
of Bologna ('Universitas Bononiensis'; in Central Italy) was established in
1088 CE, only eight (8) years before the First Crusade was launched in 1096 CE.
It is necessary for all
Africans to come to know the historic motto of the terrorist organization that
is masqueraded behind the deceitful title "University of Bologna': "Petrus
ubique pater legum Bononia mater" (: St. Peter is everywhere the father of
the law, Bologna is its mother). This makes clear that these evil institutions
(universities) were geared to function worldwide as centers of propagation and
imposition of the lawless laws and the inhuman dogmas of the Western European
barbarians. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Papacy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne#Reign_as_emperor
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photian_schism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East%E2%80%93West_Schism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Bologna
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Crusade
Lead seal of Michael Cerularius (Μιχαήλ Κηρουλάριος; 1000-1059), Patriarch of Constantinople (from 1043), who excommunicated pope Leo IX of Rome, thus triggering the Great Schism. The evil institution of 'universitas' could have never been launched without a final separation of the barbarian and faithless Western European realms from the Christian Orthodox Eastern Roman Empire.
At this point, we have
to analyze the real meaning and the repugnant nature of the monstrous word. Its
Latin etymology points to the noun 'universus', which is formed from 'uni-'
(root of the Genitive 'unius' of the numeral 'unus', which means 'one') and
from 'versus' (past participle of the Latin verb 'verto', which in the
infinitive form 'vertere' means 'to turn'). Consequently, 'universus' means
forcibly 'turned into one'. It goes without saying that, if the intention is to
mentally-intellectually turn all the students into one, there is not and there
cannot be any freedom in those malefic institutions. About:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/unus#Etymology
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/versus#Latin
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/universitas#Latin
'Universitas' is
therefore the inauspicious location whereby 'all are turned into one',
inevitably losing their identity, integrity, originality, singularity and individuality.
In other words, 'universitas' was conceived as the proper word for a monstrous
factory of mental, intellectual, sentimental and educational uniformity that
produces copies of dehumanized beings that happen to have the same,
prefabricated world views, ideas, opinions, beliefs and systematized
'knowledge'. In fact, the first 'students' of the University of Bologna were
the primary industrial products in the history of mankind. Speaking about
'academic freedom' and charters like the Constitutio Habita were then merely
the ramifications of an unmatched hypocrisy. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University#Academic_freedom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authentica_habita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_university#Establishment
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medieval_universities
To establish a useful
parallel between medieval times in Western Europe and modern times in North
America, while also bridging the malefic education with the malignant
governance of the Western states, I would simply point out that the evil,
perverse and tyrannical institution of 'universities' definitely suits best any
state and any government that would dare invent an inhumane motto like 'E
pluribus unum' ('out of many, one). This is actually one of the two main mottos
of the United States, and it appears on the US Great Seal. It reflects always
the same sickness and the same madness of diabolical uniformity that
straightforwardly contradicts every concept of Creation. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_pluribus_unum#Origins
One may still wonder
why, at the very beginning of the previous unit, I referred to "the racist
connotation, which is inherent to" the word 'universitas'; the answer is
simple. By explicitly desiring to "turn all (the students) into one",
the creators of these calamitous institutions and, subsequently, all the
brainless idiots, who willingly accepted to eliminate themselves spiritually
and intellectually in order to become uniformed members of those
'universities', denied and rejected the existence of the 'Other', i.e. of every
other culture, civilization, world conceptualization, moral system of values,
governance, education, and approach to learning, knowledge and wisdom.
The evil Western
structures of tyrannical pseudo-learning did not accept even the 11th c.
Western European Christians and their culture an faith; they accepted only
those among them, who were ready (for the material benefits that they would get
instead) to undergo the necessary process of irrevocable self-effacement in
order to obtain a filthy piece of paper testifying to their uniformity with the
rest. Western universities are the epitome of the most inhuman form of racism
that has ever existed on Earth.
As a matter of fact, there
is nothing African, Asiatic, Christian, Islamic or human in a 'university'. If
this statement was difficult to comprehend a few centuries or decades ago, it
is nowadays fully understandable.
III.
De-colonization for Africa: rejection of the colonial, elitist and racist
concepts of "university" and "academy"
It is therefore crystal
clear that every new university, named after the Latin example and conceived
after the Western concept, only worsens the conditions of colonial servility
among African, Asiatic and Latin American nations. As a matter of fact, more
Western-styled 'universities' and 'academies' mean for Africa more compact
subordination to, and more comprehensive dependence on, the Western colonial
criminals.
It is only the result
of pure naivety or compact ignorance to imagine that the severe educational-academic-intellectual
damage, which was caused to all African nations by the colonial powers, will or
can be remedied with some changes of names, titles, mottos and headlines or due
to peremptory modifications of scientific conclusions. If I expanded on the
etymology and the hidden, real meaning of the term 'universitas', it is only
because I wanted to reveal its perverse nature. But merely a name change would
not suffice in an African nation's effort to achieve genuine decolonization and
comprehensive de-Westernization.
Universities in all the
Arabic-speaking countries have been called 'Jamaet' (or Gamaet; جامعة); the noun originates from the verb 'yajmaC ' (يجمع), which means collecting or gathering (people) together. At this
point, it is to be reminded that the word has great affinity with the word
'mosque' (جامع; JamaC) in Arabic. However, one
has to take into consideration the fact that the mere change of name did not
cause any substantive differentiation in terms of nature, structure, approach
to science, methods used, and moral character of the overall educational
system. About:
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/جامعة
Other vicious Western
terms of educational nature that should be removed from Africa, Asia and Latin
America are the word 'academy' and its derivatives; this word denoted initially
in Western Europe 'a society of distinguished scholars and artists or
scientists'. Later, in the 16th-17th c., those societies were entirely institutionalized.
For this reason, since the beginning of the 20th c., the term 'academia' was
coined to describe the overall academic environment or a specific independent community
active in the different fields of research and education. More recently,
'academy' ended up signifying any simple place of study or training company.
As name, nature,
contents, structure and function, 'academy' is definitely profane; in its
origin, it had a markedly impious character, as it was used to designate the
so-called 'school of philosophy' that was set up by Plato, who vulgarized
knowledge and desecrated wisdom. In fact, this philosopher did not only fail to
pertinently and comprehensively study in Ancient Egypt where he sojourned (in
Iwnw; Heliopolis), but he also proved to be unable to grasp that there is no
knowledge and no wisdom outside the temples, which were at the time the de
facto high centers of spiritual and material study, learning, research,
exploration and comprehension. He therefore thought it possible for him to 'teach'
(or discuss with) others despite the fact that he had not proficiently studied
and adequately learned the wisdom and the spiritual potency of the Ancient
Egyptian Iwnw (Heliopolitan) hierophants and high priests.
Being absolutely
incompetent to become a priest of the sanctuary of Athena at the suburb
'Academia' of Athens, he gathered his group of students at a location nearby,
and for this reason his 'school' was named after that neighborhood. It is
noteworthy that the said suburb's name was due to a legendary figure, Akademos
(Ακάδημος; Academus),
who was mythologized in relation with the Theseus legends of Ancient Athens.
Using the term 'school' for Plato's group of friends and followers is really
abusive, because it did not constitute an accredited priestly or public
establishment.
The vain glorification of the Platonic Academy is a modern Western European bias; the discovery (in 1897) of a (1st c. BCE – 79 CE) mosaic in the villa of T. Siminius Stephanus in Pompeii unleashed a madness that took hold in the Western European academic and intellectual circles. There is no apparent reason for which the mosaic should be depicting Plato's school; most probably, it represents some decayed, elitist Roman statesmen who wanted to be dressed after the Greek fashion while attending a banquet. Yet, it became known as Plato's Academy mosaic, which is totally false and absolutely ridiculous. Still, what matters most in this case is the fact that, back at those days, the Roman Empire was flooded by Oriental cults, religions, mysticisms, faiths, myths and traditions of African and Asiatic origin. The extraordinary and unprecedented diffusion of Oriental cults throughout the Roman Empire and other parts of Europe put the final tombstone on the bad habits of the old Roman elite that found in the Ancient Greek philosophers the perfect opportunity and the best means to disregard their spiritual needs and to delude themselves with meaningless and worthless talking. They were therefore irreversibly swept away by Christianity, a new religion, which did not tolerate either the mischievous daily life of the corrupt Greek and Roman elites or the villainous institutions of republic, slavery, democracy, theater, and philosophy.
In fact, all those,
absurdly eulogized, 'Platonic seminars' were informal gatherings of presumptuous,
arrogant, wealthy, parasitic and idiotic persons, who thought it possible to
become spiritually knowledgeable and portentous by pompously, yet
nonsensically, discussing about what they could not possibly know. It goes
without saying that this disgusting congregation of immoral beasts found it
quite normal to possess numerous slaves (more than their family members),
consciously practiced pedophilia and homosexuality, and viewed their wives as
'things' in a deprecatory manner unmatched even by the Afghan Taliban. This
nauseating and execrable environment is at the origin of vicious term
'academy'. And this environment is the target of today's Western elites. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_Academy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy#History
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academus
Consequently, any use
of the term 'academy' constitutes a straightforward rejection of the
sacerdotal, religious and spiritual dimension of knowledge and wisdom, in
direct opposition to what was worldwide accepted among civilized nations with
great temples throughout the history of mankind. In fact, the appearance of
what is now called 'Ancient Greek Philosophy' was an exception in World
History, which was due to the peripheral and marginal location of Western
Anatolia and South Balkans with respect to Egypt, Cush, Syria-Palestine,
Mesopotamia, Anatolia, and Iran. In brief, the Ancient Greek philosophers (with
the exception of very few who were true mystics and spiritual masters and
therefore should not be categorized as 'philosophers') failed to understand that,
by exploring the world only mentally and verbally (i.e. by just thinking and
talking), no one can sense, describe, and represent (to others) the true nature
of the worlds, namely the spiritual and the material universes.
Plato and his pupils (his
'school' or 'academy') were therefore ordinary individuals who attempted to
'prove' orally what cannot be contained in words and cannot be comprehended
logically but contemplatively and transcendentally. All the Platonic concepts,
notions, ideas, opinions and theories are maladroit and failed efforts to
explain the Iwnw (Heliopolitan) religion of Ancient Egypt (also known among the
Ancient Greeks as the 'Ennead'). But none of them was able to perform even a
minor move of priestly potency or any transcendental act.
Furthermore, I have to
point out that the absurd 'significance' that both, the so-called Plato's
school and 'Ancient Greek Philosophy', have acquired in the West over the past
few centuries is entirely due to the historical phenomenon of Renaissance that
characterized 15th-16th c. Western Europe. But this is an exception even within
the context of European History. Actually, the Roman ruler Sulla destroyed the
Platonic Academy in 86 BCE; this was the end of the 'Academy'. Several
centuries later, some intellectuals, who were indulging themselves in repetition,
while calling themselves 'successors of Plato', opened (in Athens) another
'Academy', which was erroneously described by modern Western university
professors as 'Neo-Platonic'. All the same, the Roman Emperor Justinian I the
Great put an irrevocable end to that shame of profanity and nonsensical talking
(529 CE). About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulla#Sack_of_Athens
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Athens_and_Piraeus_(87%E2%80%9386_BC)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justinian_I#Authoritarian_rule
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_Academy#Neoplatonic_Academy
The revival of the
worthless institution that had remained unknown to all Christians started,
quite noticeably, little time after the fall of Constantinople (1453); in 1462,
the anti-Christian banker, statesman and intellectual Cosimo dei Medici
established the Platonic Academy of Florence to propagate all the devilish and
racist concepts of the Renaissance and praise the worthless institution that
had been forgotten. About:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platonic_Academy_(Florence)
.jpg)
The corrupt banker Cosimo dei Medici (1389-1464); posthumous portrait by the mannerist painter Bronzino (whose real name was Agnolo di Cosimo; 1503-1572)
I recently explained why
the Western European Renaissance and the colonial conquests are an indissoluble
phenomenon of extremely racist nature; here you can find the links to my
articles:
https://www.academia.edu/114770216/Aristotle_as_Historical_Forgery_the_Western_Worlds_Fake_History_and_Rotten_Foundations_and_Prof_Jin_Canrongs_Astute_Comments
https://www.academia.edu/115003715/The_Fake_Texts_of_Ancient_Greek_Historians_the_Behistun_Inscription_Ctesias_Diodorus_Siculus_Darius_I_the_Great_and_Semiramis
https://www.academia.edu/120038294/The_Collective_West_its_Mysteries_Illusions_and_Threats_against_the_Mankind
It becomes therefore
crystal clear that Africa does not need any more Western-styled universities
and academies; contrarily, there is an urgent need for university-level centers
of knowledge and wisdom, which will overwhelmingly apply African moral
concepts, values and virtues to the topics studied and explored. Learning was
always an inextricably spiritual, religious, and cultural affair in Africa. No
de-colonization will be effectuated prior to the reinstallation of African
educational values across Africa' s schools.
Consequently, instead
of uselessly spending money for the establishment of new 'universities' and
'academies', which only deepen and worsen Africa's colonization, what the Black
Continent needs now is a new type of institution that will help prepare African
students to study abroad in specifically selected sectors and with pre-arranged
determination and approach, comprehend and reject the Western fallacy, and
replace the Western-styled universities with new, genuinely African,
educational institutions. Concerning this topic, I will offer few suggestions
in my forthcoming article.
=======================
Beyond
Afrocentrism: Prerequisites for Somalia to lead African de-colonization and
de-Westernization
Introduction
I. Decolonization and
the failure of the Afrocentric Intelligentsia
II. Afrocentric African
scholars should have been taken Egyptology back from the Western Orientalists
and Africanists
III. Western Usurpation
of African Heritage must be canceled.
IV. Afrocentrism had to
encompass severe criticism and total rejection of the so-called Western
Civilization
V. Afrocentrism as a
form of African Isolationism drawing a line of separation between colonized
nations in Africa and Asia
VI. General estimation
of the human resources, the time, and the cost needed
VII. Decolonization
means above all De-Anglicization and De-Francization
https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2024/04/24/beyond-afrocentrism-prerequisites-for-somalia-to-lead-african-de-colonization-and-de-westernization/
https://www.academia.edu/118012848/Beyond_Afrocentrism_Prerequisites_for_Somalia_to_lead_African_de_colonization_and_de_Westernization
https://vk.com/megalommatis?w=wall429864789_11249%2Fall
https://www.4shared.com/web/preview/pdf/qDG6u9Fgku?
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/muhammad-shamsaddin-megalommatis-677982143_prerequisites-for-somalia-to-lead-african-activity-7189287260201107456-L3S1/
https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/beyond-afrocentrism-prerequisites-for-somalia-to-lead-african-decolonization-and-dewesternization/267536509
https://www.calameo.com/read/00715689774f9a8410730
https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/_b_Beyond_Afrocentrism_Prerequisites_for_Somalia_to_lead_African_de-colonization_and_de-Westernization_b_/25691655
https://www.patreon.com/posts/beyond-for-to-de-103047142
https://megalommatis.substack.com/p/beyond-afrocentrism-prerequisites?r=iwr0e
https://megalommatis.blogspot.com/2024/04/beyond-afrocentrism-prerequisites-for.html
https://medium.com/@megalommatis/beyond-afrocentrism-prerequisites-for-somalia-to-lead-african-de-colonization-and-ad7781ab7903
https://megalommatis.livejournal.com/51430.html
============================================
Download the article in PDF:
https://megalommatiscomments.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/educational-intellectual-de-westernization-for-africa-rejection-of-the-colonial-elitist-racist-and-profane-european-concepts-of-university-and-academy/
https://www.academia.edu/121379681/Educational_Intellectual_De_Westernization_for_Africa_Rejection_of_the_Colonial_Elitist_Racist_and_Profane_European_Concepts_of_University_and_Academy
https://vk.com/megalommatis?w=wall429864789_12585%2Fall
https://www.patreon.com/posts/educational-de-106700355
https://www.calameo.com/read/00715689721dbbee1e170
https://www.4shared.com/web/preview/pdf/bmkgaN4Ejq?
